With the use of e-readers becoming more and more prevalent, there's much to be gained: they allow us to carry countless books with us in one small package. They free up precious space in our oft-stuffed domiciles. And for those of us who love a good gadget, they can be beautiful and exciting. But what might we lose, on the flipside? For one, the pleasure of perusing another's shelves to find a kindred spirit, a bosom book buddy, and the joy of potential new reads.

And of course, the other side of that - when a person's reading choices are locked away inside technology, we lose the alarm bells that go along with discovering your would-be new romance has a house full of home taxidermy books. If we can no longer snoop through their shelves as we get to know someone, I for one will miss judging people by the books I uncover.